Women of Marginalized Communities in India and their Access to Education

India is known for its ?unity in diversity? because of its multi-religious, multilingual, and multicultural nature. Caste and class biases in India exclude many communities and obstruct their efficient participation in economic and social development. Among the marginalized communities the most susceptible are women folk which faces severe forms of discriminations that denies them to access to the progress and development. It directly or indirectly affects them in the field of occupation, livelihood and education. A brutal environment is setup where women folk are prevented from participating in social life which in turn leads to their further isolation. Women education refers to every type of education that aims at their all-round development including general education in schools and colleges, professional and technical education, health education etc. Education is a strong medium for creating consciousness about their rights and empowerment. Education ensures socio-cultural and economic development of women in society. Our nation will progress remarkably if we have educated mothers. Women education will change the social fabric of society by bringing about socio-economic development, prosperity, improved life and health, dignity and honor etc. The importance of women education has been highlighted in the fundamental rights and duties and also in directive principles of our constitution. Various commissions and committees also recommended measures for women upliftment. Thus, women education occupies top most priority among the various actions to be taken to improve the status of women. Despite various measures taken by the Government of India for women education, women belonging to marginalized communities are still backward in the field of education, high literacy rate among them is still a dream. Problems like parental attitude, parental illiteracy and ignorance, poverty, poor school environment, early marriages, preference for male child education, lack of infrastructure and communication facilities, etc leads to poor literacy and dropout rates among women. This paper will examine the access of education to women belonging to marginalized section of Indian population in context to hurdles come in their way to receive education, various constitutional provisions for their upliftment and development along with their possible remedies.